It is well known in the field of aviation to provide air vehicles, including aircraft and other airborne vehicles, with a brake system, configured for stopping the air vehicle during its taxiing when on the ground.
Calipers are a common brake arrangement, used also in air vehicle, in which two brake pads are configured for clamping therebetween a portion of the wheel (or an element fixedly associated therewith), thereby preventing it from rotating, effectively stopping the air vehicle.
Hydraulic systems can also be substituted by electromechanical systems which can weigh less and require less maintenance. One example of such a mechanical system is a geared caliper system in which an arrangement of gears associated with an electric motor replacing the hydraulic actuation.
Such electromechanical brake systems can incorporate a powerful motor allowing the brake system to be incorporated in large-scale aircrafts. An example of this is disclosed in US2014/0000993 which relates to an electromechanical brake system includes a base carrier provided with a pair of pad plates for application of pressure to a disc, a caliper housing supported by the base carrier to be movable forward and backward to apply pressure to the pad plates, a pressing member including a ball nut installed at the caliper housing to convert rotational motion into rectilinear motion to apply pressure to the pad plates and a ball screw coupled to the ball nut, a force sensor installed at the ball nut to sense load produced by the ball nut, a motor to produce rotational force to operate the pressing member, and a speed reducer connected to a rotating shaft of the motor to transfer driving force to the pressing member, wherein the speed reducer may be adapted to change a reduction ratio depending on presence of load sensed by the force sensor.
In general, the replacement of hydraulic systems with mechanical/electric systems is performed in other avionic systems other than the brakes. One such example is provided in the research paper “Analysis of Electro-Mechanical Actuator Systems in More Electric Aircraft Applications” by Mohsen Torabzadeh-Tari, KTH Electrical Engineering, ISBN 91-7178-0998.
Acknowledgement of the above references herein is not to be inferred as meaning that these are in any way relevant to the patentability of the presently disclosed subject matter.